While almost 75% of Bing visitors in North America use Internet Explorer, only about 40% of Google’s search visitors use the web’s most popular browser. Instead, Google deals with Firefox, Apple’s Safari and Google’s own Chrome browser cause those to combine and outdistance IE usage. Internet Explorer Is Big On Bing The figures come from a […]
Google has announced the end of supporting the Google Toolbar for Firefox. Google said the Google Toolbar works in versions of Firefox 4 or younger, but not the new version 5 of Firefox. Google explained, “many features that were once offered by Google Toolbar for Firefox are now already built right into the browser.” So […]
Today, Google has launched the first of many design changes that will impact all of their products, including search. Their blog post says the updates will roll over over the next few months, but that they have a philosophy of “constant revision and improvement”, and notes three primary principles driving the change: Focus They say they’re […]
There are lots of different ways to speed up searching. Google, Bing and Yahoo all offer browser toolbars — no need to visit their home pages, just search wherever you are. Google and Yahoo both have their own versions of “instant search,” where search results appear as you type. Google’s Chrome web browser lets you […]
Google Instant continues to spread. The company has just announced that it’s one of several new features on Google Toolbar 7 for Internet Explorer 8 and 9. Google Instant has to be activated via the Toolbar Options menu, and once it’s on, Instant works the same way it does on Google.com. The Escape button on […]
Does the web browser you use say anything about your preferred search engine? It might, according to some data just published by Chitika. After measuring activity across the 80,000 or so sites in its ad network, Chitika reports that Bing usage is tied to which version of Internet Explorer a person uses. Specifically, Bing usage […]
Google announced you can now hide or block certain sites from showing up in the Google search results. When you do a search in Google, the search results will show a new link near the “Cache” link when you click a result and then return to Google. The link that Google adds to the search […]
Bing is introducing a totally redesigned version of its toolbar, called the “Bing Bar.” Apparently it has been “rebuilt from the ground up,” says Microsoft’s Stefan Weitz. Indeed, it operates more like a kind of “dashboard” than a conventional toolbar with links to various sites. And yes, the Bing Rewards loyalty program is still in […]
Yes, Google uses data from its Google Toolbar to improve its search results. But no, Google reasserts, it doesn’t use its toolbar to mine search behavior on other search engines in the way that Bing does.
Part of this week’s debate over whether Microsoft’s Bing search engine is learning from Google involves data that Bing gathers through Microsoft’s Internet Explorer. Google has suggested Microsoft isn’t giving fair disclosure. I disagree. To better illustrate, let’s turn the tables and look at the Google Toolbar and disclosure.
Along with everything else going on for Bing’s Harry Shum on Tuesday — a panel about search spam, dealing with Google’s accusations that Bing “copies” Google’s results — Shum dealt with perhaps his most important worry. Reassuring his son that Bing wasn’t “cheating” as a search engine.
Google has run a sting operation that it says proves Bing has been watching what people search for on Google, the sites they select from Google’s results, then uses that information to improve Bing’s own search listings. Bing doesn’t deny this. As a result of the apparent monitoring, Bing’s relevancy is potentially improving (or getting […]
Google’s Android smartphone operating system is poised to overtake Apple’s iPhone for market share, and its Chrome browser has reached a major milestone, capturing 10% of the market. The smartphone figures come from Nielsen in November, while the browser numbers were measured in December by Net Applications, an Aliso Viejo, Calif. company that tracks market […]
One of the things that people do with their smartphones in stores is take pictures of products and send them to friends and family for feedback and advice. A version of that process has been developing in parallel online through the numerous “social shopping” sites and has existed forever in good old-fashioned email. Now Bing […]
Flipping through my Los Angeles Times newspaper today, I came across an unusual ad — one placed by Google, to push its Chrome browser: The Chrome Ad Google’s “20 Things” Book In particular, the ad covers one of the 20 “things” that are part of the “20 Things I Learned About Browsers And The Web” […]
Jason Weber is suing Google over how the Google Toolbar in the past sent data to Google even while the toolbar was turned off. The suit was filed on November 5th by Webner and his attorneys, KamberLaw, based in New York. The plaintiff is suing on his “personal” experience and claims that the toolbar was […]
SMX Boot Camp: Search Engine Friendly Web Design Presentations from SMX East, October 2010 "I’m not designing my site for search engines," is a common designer objection to SEO suggestions. But when search engines collectively have more users than either Internet Explorer or Firefox, how can you afford to ignore how they interact with your […]
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: Google Pulls Dead Body Images From Street View Brazil Google has removed Street View images in Brazil that showed dead bodies on local streets. One image showed a partly-covered body lying […]
Prior Microsoft search loyalty programs, SearchPerks and Cashback, were retired. But maybe the third time’s the charm: today Microsoft is rolling out Bing Rewards Preview (beta). It’s a credit card or airline-style loyalty program that offers users credits that can be redeemed for products, gift cards or charitable donations. People must first install the Bing […]
Google Instant promises to change the way people search. Speaking at today’s announcement, Google’s Marissa Mayer called it a “fundamental shift in search.” As with any big Google announcement, there are questions: Who can use Google Instant? Can I opt out or turn off Google Instant? Why am I not seeing it when I do […]
Google has announced the launch of a browser plugin that lets users avoid being tracked by Google Analytics. The company warned two months ago, in the midst of loud privacy-related complaints, that it was working on such a tool. Google says the plugin will work in the following browsers: Internet Explorer, versions 7 and 8 […]
Want to keep your searches from being seen when using open WiFi or other networks? Google’s introduced a new “secure” encrypted version of its search. Anyone who has been to a bank web site will be familiar with the idea of encryption, where a little “lock” symbol appears at the bottom of Firefox or the […]
Need another data point from the search world illustrating the rise of concern over Facebook’s privacy changes. How about that chart above? It shows a huge spike to traffic at wikiHow, which has a handy guide on how to delete your Facebook account. Earlier this week, I wrote about how there seemed to be an […]
We’re getting more and more reports from readers who are seeing a “new” Google look-and-feel for its search results. This is a three column design that Google’s actually been testing for some time. That testing appears to be accelerating.
Ben Edelman uncovered evidence that even if you disable the Google Toolbar, Google may still be tracking your web browsing behavior. Edelman documents how he disabled the Google Toolbar within the preference, then visited a web page and captured how Google was sending browsing data from the toolbar to Google’s servers. Edelman first clicked the […]
The PEW Internet and American Life Project just released new information about use of the internet by Latino adults in the United States. How does this relate to search engine optimization? Understanding who’s online and how they search is core to success in search acquisition beyond simply ranking well. Over a billion people are now […]
Europe has generally emerged as a much more forceful player in anti-trust law than regulators in the US (despite their tough rhetoric). Some people believe, in fact, that in Microsoft’s case Europe has treated the company with a very heavy hand and turned it into the equivalent of a cash machine, imposing billions in fines. […]
The Google Webmaster Central blog has two excellent write ups on mobile SEO concerns and techniques. One is named Help Google index your mobile site and the other is named Running desktop and mobile versions of your site. The reason for the two different articles is that often webmasters consider smart phone enabled sites as […]
Google Sidewiki is a new feature being added today to the Google Toolbar that allows anyone to leave comments about pages as they surf the web. Love something you’re reading? Hate it? You can share your views with others who visit the page and who also have Sidewiki enabled. Share, that is, if Google thinks […]
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: Google Book Search Now With Cloud Tag The Google Book Search Blog announced a neat new feature that allows you to peek into the book via what is known as a […]
The Google Blog announced the latest version of the Google Toolbar for IE (Internet Explorer) has new “advanced translation” capabilities. The translation features include: Automatic detection of languages other than your default language One click translation Client side (does not communicate with Google) language detection Automatic language translation on page clicks Real-time translation for dynamic […]
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: MSN Overhauls City Guides, Integrates With Live Search MSN and Live Search probably don’t get enough attention in the local search field, but the reality is that there’s a solid core […]
MSN and Live Search probably don’t get enough attention in the local search field, but the reality is that there’s a solid core of usage thanks to the default experience offered on many PCs — Windows OS and Internet Explorer. (On a purely anecdotal level, an old blog post I wrote about adding a business […]
It used to be common wisdom that Google never did consumer marketing. That’s changed over the past few years, with Google doing everything from billboards to radio ads to bus “wraps” to push particular Google products. Now it boldly goes into that final frontier, TV ads in the United States. It’s a first for Google. […]
Over the past couple of years Microsoft and Google have become increasingly intense (maybe even bitter) rivals. Most recently the two companies used Yahoo as something of a pawn their game. It may be somewhat unfair to all involved to characterize Yahoo as a “pawn.” But Microsoft tried to buy Yahoo primarily as a way […]
Google announced the release of the Google Toolbar 6 for Internet Explorer. This toolbar, when installed, adds the Google Quick Search Box (QSB) to the task bar of Windows computers. This is by far the most visible difference with this version of the toolbar. Other changes include enhancing the search suggestions and a new tab […]
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web.
Michael Arrington went on a rant about Google testing sound effect in the new Google SearchWiki. In short, Michael is upset that Google would spend the time adding sound effects over adding an option to turn off SearchWiki. I do agree with with Michael on this, but we do know that feature is coming in […]
It was just a few months ago when Google.com added search suggestions to the main page. Now, I am receiving reports that Google is testing enhancing those suggestions by showing URLs in the suggestions, in some cases. For example, Sam at Oh! Nuts emailed me a screen shot of Google showing his URL in the […]
Continuing on with its strategy to build search share by gaining distribution partners, Microsoft has landed a deal to have its MSN Toolbar offered to anyone in the United States who downloads Java for Internet Explorer.